


Missed The Mark

by onlyhereforellick



Series: Back Off [2]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Angst, F/M, ellickweek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:13:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23755936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onlyhereforellick/pseuds/onlyhereforellick
Summary: He desperately wanted to say something, anything. Yet his feet never moved and his mouth stayed shut.
Relationships: Ellie Bishop/Nick Torres
Series: Back Off [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1710991
Comments: 10
Kudos: 42





	Missed The Mark

**Author's Note:**

> "How much of that did you hear?"
> 
> ellick week day twooooo

_“But, nothing. I don’t care why, I don’t even want to know. The next time you go behind my back to elaborately cancel with Richard on my behalf...will be the last time I consider you a friend.”_

_She’d turned her head just barely, still refusing to truly look him in the eye, and whispered- the raw pain evident in her voice even more so than when it was filled with anger, “We keep missing each other, Nick. We’re just- not meant to be. Please, back off.”_

He desperately wanted to say something, anything. Yet his feet never moved and his mouth stayed shut.

Seeing her walk out less than ten minutes after she came in with not so much as a glance back...Nick felt his chest crack open, splitting pain shot down the center of his breastbone at the realization of the absolute wreck he’d caused.

His entire body ached with the need to run after her, explain to her _why_ he did it. The problem? He wasn’t even quite sure he could. Something had come over him last night, this vivid green haze overtaking his vision and all rational thought. The moment he’d heard Ellie chatting with Kasie about her date—even thinking the word brought a nasty iron taste to his mouth—with Richard...well, it wasn’t a pleasant moment. Instantly his hackles rose, goosebumps crawled along his skin, his belly burned with a simmering fire of jealousy. Nick swore under his breath, drawing the attention of McGee from across the bullpen. He’d warded his questions off with a dismissive shake of the head and a glance towards Kasie and Ellie still giggling over by her desk.

Did Nick manage to take his minimal hacking skills—recently acquired from actually paying attention to McGee—and send Richard a text from a cloned number disguising it as Ellie?

He’d never say.

And yet- he stood there, piece by piece dying inside from potentially breaking a relationship that meant so much more to him than any other by such a simple, deceitful action.

Nick had never seen her like that, had never seen her quite so _livid_. The raw anger wasn’t hard to miss, but if you didn’t look close enough- didn’t know her well enough, you might have missed the vulnerable glimmer of lost hope. The aching pain that slivered its way into her voice, the pure desperation that lined each word.

She made her point more than crystal clear. Any- any kind of chance they had was gone, done, over. She had begged him underneath the bravado to let her move on. And as much as it killed him- he knew his next move.

He had to let her go.

A voice from behind shook Nick from his depressing thoughts, “Hey man- uh, you alright?”

Nick spun around to come face to face with McGee in the middle of the bullpen. He was sure the shock of seeing him unexpectedly was written all across his face. Nick had been facing the elevators and _knew_ that not a soul had come in the building while Ellie and him had their...conversation.

Apparently the question didn’t need to be spoken, as McGee answered anyways, “Stopped by Kasie to get this,” he gestured with the file folder in his hand, “first before meeting you all.”

When McGee didn’t even look over Nick’s shoulder for Ellie- he felt his stomach drop. “How much of that did you hear?” Nick asked, dreading the answer he already knew.

McGee’s tight expression told it all. Without breaking eye contact, he replied simply, “Enough.”

Shrugging past him, McGee continued speaking with his back to Nick. “Enough to know to ask you-“ he pivoted after reaching his chair, “Seriously? You canceled her date _again_?” not even attempting to hide the absolute disbelief in his tone.

Nick moaned as his head dropped back in frustration.

McGee took that as his answer. “Torres- man. You gotta tell her.”

Nick’s head snapped back up to lock eyes with him in an instant. “Hell no, I don’t. You heard her- ‘ _back off_.’” Nick mentally facepalmed at giving away his feelings so readily.

Throwing his hands up in surrender, McGee implored, “I’m going to tell you what I told her- granted, slightly different scenarios-“ Nick was intrigued, _Ellie had talked to McGee about him?—_ “she was on her way to commit premeditated murder...but still.”

_Wait- what the...?_

“Doesn’t she get a vote in this?” McGee probed.

Yet Nick was stuck on the whole ‘premeditated murder’ part. “Wait, wait- murder? Vote? What? McGee back up,” he ordered while pressing in on his desk.

Looking like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, McGee stared at him wide-eyed. Some kind of internal debate resolved and with a quick eyeroll, he explained, “Xavier- the hit and run? You in a coma? Yeah. Bishop was likely five seconds from murdering the man.”

Nick scoffed at the thought- little Miss Logic would never even entertain the thought—hell, she’d seemed disgusted at him when she believed he’d murdered a woman in cold, drugged blood.

Yet for some reason, McGee was shaking his head at him. “Seriously. And from what I gathered, she really did have it planned down to the last detail- the clear singular motive the only problem.”

Nick’s jaw hung slack. He couldn’t believe his ears. Ellie- _Ellie_ would have killed... _for him_?

McGee shook his head again and turned his gaze down to the papers on his desk, a concerned contemplative look on his face. He murmured, “Sometimes I’m not so sure she didn’t.” He sighed, “Hell- she’s been...different, ever since.”

Nick opened his mouth to refute his point but he couldn’t. McGee wasn’t lying- something had been off about her. A new, cold edge to her, almost.

Coming back up to look at Nick, McGee urges him again, “I heard what she said, Nick. But I’ve seen what she’s felt. Has she seen what you feel? Because if she hasn’t- she deserves to. It might just change her mind.” McGee’s eyes trailed over to the elevator that she’d left in. His point made abundantly clear.

Wordlessly, Nick grabbed his bag and floated over to the elevator- his mind not quite with his body as he tried to process all he’d just learned.

Ellie had said they weren’t better together, that instead they were better apart. As the elevator doors slid quietly shut, Nick wondered, _But what if- what if they hadn’t truly experienced together? What if they hadn’t missed the mark- but instead, just not taken their shot yet?_


End file.
